ABSTRACT
This study proposes to discuss femicide in the case of the killing of Millicent Gittens, murdered in Barbados in 1916. The term femicide as proposed by Diane Russell is used as the crime perpetrated by men against women whose central motivation is the imposition of male hegemony. The low status of the poor and black female population in post-abolition in Barbados is analyzed based on the Brazilian and foreign academic production on gender studies, from Bell Hooks to Olívia Gomes da Cunha, and on the thinking of authors such as Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault on power relations. The basis for this research is made up of primary documents such as newspapers, reports and official documents on crime and on the conditions of life in Barbados in post-abolition. By focusing this study on the island of Barbados, it is possible to establish that society as a “case study”, because it is a relatively isolated group and a population that today is around 280 thousand people. In 1916 the total population of the island was approximately 100 thousand inhabitants; that year two murders were committed, both against Black women.
Keywords:
femicide; post abolition; Barbados; black feminism; genre